Monday, June 11, 2007

Wheelchair Joystick Like Mouse Emulator

Once I had begun using the free Joy To Key software with the Kidstation Controller and a Logitech Joystick, I began looking around for a joystick that would be easier for my students to use. The Logitech Attack is too big, with too many buttons and hard for users with grasp difficulties to activate.

Finally I stumbled upon the Retro Competition Pro USB. The dimensions were close to what most of the power chair users have for joystick in my classroom so I went looking for one to purchase. Both American vendors were sold out (C64reloaded and Software Hut) and the UK companies were not as good a deal on shipping as I could get from UK sellers on Ebay, so I bought it on Ebay. It arrived today.

Of the two colors available, red and black or blue and silver, I choose the blue one. It has four buttons, two of them being large and easy to access. Their is a built in switch to turn off the buttons if you don't need/want them (I plan to have them off and use a head switch for clicking or a dwell program with my students). Upon plugging in the USB to my computer it was immediately recognized without any need to download any drivers or anything. Programming Joy To Key to work with it took under five minutes.

Since there are only four days left in the school year you will have to wait until September to hear how it goes.

2 comments:

  1. I'll be interested to see how these go. I've got a few on-line here too:

    http://www.oneswitch.org.uk/1/AGS/AGS-large/competitionpro.htm

    eBay probably would be the cheapest way to go though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow i love you blog its awesome nice colors you must have did hard work on your blog. Keep up the good work. Thanks

    ReplyDelete

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